Tag-Archive for » The Love Boat «

Yesterday was the big day for Princess Cruises, which has had many big days over the last 50 years. Yesterday being December 3, it was the actual 50th anniversary of the first Princess cruise — Los Angeles to Mexico on the Princess Patricia. It was also the first day of the cruise to re-create that first itinerary, this time on the Pacific Princess. That was the name of The Love Boat that is credited with bringing cruising to the masses, but this is a more recent iteration, one that joined the fleet in 2002. The original Pacific Princess is long gone but her memories were ever-present yesterday at the 50th Anniversary bash in Southern California…

Princess has a perk that only this cruise line can legitimately offer: free love stories for passengers to enjoy while cruising. Only Princess has a well-known history that includes “The Love Boat.”

The cruise line has always made the most of the TV show of the same name. Gavin MacLeod, aka Captain Stubing, has been a public relations giant for Princess for years. Frequently, there are or have been events ranging from building “The Love Boat” with Lego to re-creating the old ship’s inaugural cruise down the West Coast to celebrating its 50th anniversary by rounding up as many of the TV show’s stars as possible.

It even extended to being fortunate enough to have the world’s two most-beloved princesses — Diana and Kate — as ship godmothers.

This is The Love Boat line.

In about a week, Princess passengers will be able to enjoy three short love stories — Kiss Me Maybe by Heather Burch, To Catch a Bouquet by Carolyn Brown and Once Upon a Night at Sea by Barbara Longley — all of which were inspired by each author's cruise on a Princess ship.

There’s one catch.

Because this is being done in partnership with Amazon’s Kindle Love Stories…obviously you must have a Kindle.

That’s where the Regal Princess — or a reasonable facsimile of it — will be on New Year’s Day. The ship (it doesn’t arrive in North America until November 10) has been turned into a float in a parade. Now there’s a double entendre of sorts…the ship’s a-float, and the ship’s a float.

This will be the first time Princess has been in America’s best-known parade, which serves as a prelude to its best-known college football game. It will be just a little smaller than its matron — 60 feet long, 24 feet high — and it will be made of flowers, because that’s what floats are in the Rose Bowl Parade, when the six original cast members of The Love Boat will be riding on the “deck.”

This “Regal Princess” has already been christened, two weeks ahead of the one that doesn’t cruise down Colorado Boulevard. That means she already has a Godmother, Princess Vice-President of PR Julie Benson, who as she smashed a bottle of bubbly (or confetti) on the float’s bow declared: “I name this float Regal Princess. May God bless her and all who cruise down Colorado Boulevard on her.”

In addition to seizing a photo op that will be viewed by 80 million TV watchers on January 1, Princess is clearly having some fun with the concept.

Maybe the next step will be to have her on display on a Princess ship.

This isn’t excluding TMZ reporting, but is anybody out there concerned about the health of Tori Spelling because she has a job to do for Princess Cruises the first week of November?

The daughter of famous producer Aaron Spelling is scheduled to emcee a reunion of The Love Boat cast on the Regal Princess when it docks in North America on November 5. In the meantime, there have been (TMZ) reports that she was quarantined in a hospital “like an ebola patient” with what is now believed to be a sinus infection.

Such things generally take time to disappear and the countdown until the Princess event in Florida is currently 12 days. If she’s unable to make it (her dad produced The Love Boat), there will be plenty of talent on hand. The six major cast members from the legendary TV show are all going to be in Fort Lauderdale to christen the Regal Princess…and to be the ship’s “godparents.”

Princess is marketing newlyweds to spend their honeymoons on a cruise ship by introducing a Honeymoon Wishes Registry, where couples can sign up and choose from a list of options that range from shore excursions to drinks by the pool. The cost of their choices is applied as an on-board credit to the honeymooners’ account.

This is the cruise line that made maritime and marriage history 16 years ago by having the captain join a bride and groom in marriage. According to Princess, it was the first time a ship’s captain had performed a wedding ceremony, and it has led to many weddings at sea, a “Tie The Knot” program on the ship and in ports and annual Valentine’s Day cruises of renewal vows.

And now…the Honeymoon Wishes Registry.

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On the subject of anniversaries…

This is a big one for Princess. The cruise line’s 50th year begins the day after the Regal Princess is christened, November 6. The first Princess ship sailed down the coast of Mexico — like The Love Boat did so many times — on November 5, 1965.

The Golden Anniversary will be marked throughout 2015 with a lot of 50th anniversary themes. There will be Love Boat Disco Parties all year long. A golden balloon will drop in the atriums on every cruise. A special craft beer has been especially brewed for all Princess ships in the coming year and, along with inventive cocktails, will raise a toast called “Cheers To 50 Years.” Two 50th anniversary chocolate desserts have been created by the noted chocolatier Norman Love (hmm, did his surname help land this job?).

Princess promotes a Love Boat cruise and it sells out 18 months before sailing. Now, Princess has named the entire original cast of the famous TV show as “godparents” of the Regal Princess, a new ship that has been without such blessings since she hit the water in the spring.

The ceremony will be in Florida, in November, after the Regal Princess makes her first Atlantic crossing.

The Love Boat original cast — Captain Merrill Stubing (Gavin MacLeod), Isaac the bartender Ted Lange), Julie the cruise director (Lauren Tewes), Doc Bricker the ship’s doctor (Bernie Kopell), Gopher the yeoman purser (Fred Grandy) and Vicki the captain’s kid (Jill Whelan) — will officially name the ship that cruise passengers will have been sailing on for six months by then.

Talk about nostalgia.

On the eve of its 50th anniversary, Princess discovered there was still equity in The Love Boat. Even the most optimistic Princess patterers couldn’t have imagined how much equity there was in a made-for-TV movie that was spun into a regular series lasting 10 years. Only MacLeod, Kopell and Lange appeared in all episodes of the series. And “original” does not apply to the first two of three made-for-TV movies, only the TV series.

Other ships were used but it’s widely known that the now-deceased Pacific Princess was the true Love Boat.

The show has been syndicated in many countries in many languages for many years. Surely, it will be revived in America — even if only on Princess ships with more regularity.

And if you think that means more pocket change for that original cast, well, it doesn’t. In the ’70s, they accepted contracts paying them just for their acting, with nothing for syndication.